For three nights this weekend, when an audience limited to 20 is allowed into Project Space 1785, they will find they are not just viewers but a part of “It’s Recess Time!” – an art and sound installation within which a one-act play is performed in their midst.
Each will find a space within the stark white studio, finding a seat on fake green turf or a spot to stand among the hand-built swings, see-saw and sandbox. Around them, graffiti on the walls screams as loudly as the sound track: electronica overlaid with distorted spoken words.
Run by producer Jared Thomas, the gallery’s co-founder, the music is cued to the actions of two 18-year-old actors, Finn Barrett and Will Commerford. They play children whose longed-for liberation from structure and discipline gives way to the chaos of life without direction.
By turns comedic and disturbing, “It’s Recess Time!” derives its authenticity from the perspective of three artists barely out of childhood themselves. It is the story of two friends who don’t age and can’t change, locked in an alternate universe. The authors were inspired by the apathy of some of their peers, trapped in a town with limited job opportunities for young people, a disproportionately older population and a cultural scene dismissive of youthful tastes and interests.
“I have many, many friends who have all these aspirations but they don’t take the initiative to achieve them, or they’re self-deprecating and down on themselves. You admire their talent but they’re stifling their potential,” says Thomas. “They’re frustrated at where they’re living, so they’re drinking or getting high or finding solace in romantic relationships, but it’s all to cover up what is the overwhelming feeling that their not achieving things.”
Thomas says even among his friends, his invitation to come see the show has been met with blank stares. “It’s like, OK, but like, what do we do? They aren’t used to going out to see art.”
If “It’s Recess Time!” is a 45-minute-long study in aimlessness, its theme is defied by its creators. The trio of current and past Vero Beach Charter High School students have devoted much of their own summer recess to the project. Barrett and Commerford developed the script together, Barrett creating the sound track on his iPad. It is Barrett’s artwork that adorns the walls, while Thomas built the playground set – all with a budget of zero.
Barrett and Commerford met a year ago in a Charter High production of “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.” Barrett played Christopher, a 15-year-old autistic boy; Commerford played his father.
The two budding actors immediately connected. Within a few months, they found themselves deep in conversation walking along Ocean Drive in the middle of the night trying desperately to figure out why some of their favorite friends seemed so stuck.
“We were on a rampage talking about all this stuff that was going on with our friends. Like, ‘That’s bad, that’s bad, they could be doing this, they could be doing this,’” recalls Barrett. “Suddenly we just said, ‘Let’s make a show of all this.’”
Late one night soon after – late nights are common in their creative process – they were propped up on opposite ends of a couch calling out lines and typing them into their iPads.
Barrett, who just graduated from Charter, is the son of Ken Barrett, a P.E. teacher, and Kim Schroeder, who heads the school system’s print shop.
A remarkable actor, Barrett didn’t act until last year. Until then, he didn’t get why drama kids were so rapturous about their efforts. “People would be sobbing after their plays, like, ‘Oh, we’re never going to get to do this again!’ I just thought acting was, you say some stuff, people look at you and it’s over. So I decided to find out.”
By his second semester, Charter drama teacher Michael Naffziger was guiding the class through the acting methods of Michael Chekhov and Uta Hagen.
Commerford went on to be scouted in a state theater competition by the New York Academy of Dramatic Arts, and won a scholarship to its month-long summer program. Now when he starts talking, Thomas says, “the odds are 50-50 he’s improvising.”
“Will loves to play pretend,” Thomas says. He describes a recent set-building session when the three of them took a break to eat some tacos. “All of a sudden, Will jumps up and says, ‘OK, I’m going to do two monologues, one comedic, one dramatic.’ He didn’t care if anyone watched or not.”
That sort of interruption is just fine Thomas. “I hate that once you’re grown up, you’re not supposed to play pretend anymore.”
“It’s Recess Time!” plays this Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 7 p.m. at 1785 Old Dixie Hwy., across from Garage Pizza in downtown Vero. Tickets, $10, are available on line at www.itsrecesstime.bigcartel.com.
